ArtScene: "New" Velazquez, Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven

LONDON. Jimmy the Jesuit is
swishing in his cassock. Steady, boy. But the excitement is innocent. He says
have I been to Bonham’s Sales to see the long lost Velazquez?

In
between fixing a tap, binning a faux mink thong sent by a Long Island pervert and,
wondering why I have to do so much of my accountant’s work for him, the answer
is: of course. Any script editor
to this story would never believe it.

The descendants of a not so special nineteenth century artist, Matthew
Shepperson, sent an attic load of his work to Bonhams here in London. In the
box, something a bit different. A portrait of a gentleman - too good for
a Shepperson.

Andrew Mckenzie at Bonhams
says, "Shepperson's a fairly third-rate artist to be honest. As soon as we saw
it we could see it was a picture of immense quality and the power of the image
stood out."

Then what? "The costume is Spanish, so the obvious
name to start with is Velazquez and his pupils. We ruled out the pupils because
the technique just didn't seem to fit."

The next stop was The Prado
in Madrid. "I looked at portraits of the same period: the way he models the
cheek, very delicate modelling, cool colouring. The lips - very beautifully
painted precisely the way Velazquez paints his lips."

It’s still a gamble, but
everyone who knows about Velazqez says Velazquez. Comes up next month:
£3million. Loose change for someone looking for something special for
Christmas.

Back
in the studio and more excitement. Can I cope with it all? No not Jimmy the Jez. It’s an email from one of
my Canadian students, Kathy. Not the Velazquez but have I seen Tom Thomson and The Group of Seven at
the Dulwich Picture Gallery. The Dulwich was England’s very first purpose-built
public art gallery founded in 1811.

The
Group of Seven was early twentieth century, Tom Thomson, and his seven friends:
J E H MacDonald, Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer,
Frank Johnson, Franklin Carmichael, AY Jackson and Fred Varley. The progress of this informal Canadian art movement
was curtailed by the First World War and the early and mysterious death of Tom
Thomson in 1917 during a canoeing trip in Algonquin Park. Drink taken? Peeing
from his canoe? Toppled over. That’s what they say.

The
exhibition is curated by Ian Dejardin, director of Dulwich Picture Gallery with
Canadian co-curators, Katerina Atanassova the chief curator of the McMichael
Canadian Art Collection and visual arts professor at Toronto’s York University,
Anna Hudson. It’s an east to west journey across Canada. The grand thing about
the show from a painter’s point of view, is the juxtaposition of the finished
canvas with the initial sketches, done on the spot.

It’s
bold and bright, dramatic and gutsy. So it’s as uncompromising as the landscape
that gave them birth. These
artists were not afraid of handling paint or colour but are not much talked
about outside Canada. They should be. But that’s how insular, even precious,
the art world can be. .

Dulwich
is showing 122 paintings, some of which have never been on public display. Go see. The Dulwich itself makes it a worthwhile trip especially for
those who think it’s all in central London.

By
the way, if you happen to see a twitching Jez, don’t worry. It’s just another
excited art lover - I think.

ArtScene Quote of the
Week

The maples are about all
stripped of leaves now, but the birches are very rich in colour... the best I
can do does not do the place much justice in the way of beauty. Tom Thomson

Fiona Graham-Mackay, is London's newest royal portrait painter. She is also recently back from painting in the Pakistan-Afghan border. She studied at London's Royal College of Art, had a studio in Paris before returning to the UK to paint and teach in London, Spain and Italy. Her next assignments are…